A Monday morning SLORMGORM…
A good mix of clue types with nice surfaces, as one expects from this setter. 29a was my favourite.
Thanks SLORMGORM!
ACROSS
1. Brothers do scream after being shaken up (8)
COMRADES
(DO SCREAM)* (*after being shaken up)
5. As might be a Banksy work found on a fence? (6)
STOLEN
10. One walking fast in street next to jockey (7)
STRIDER
ST (street) next to RIDER (jockey)
11. We are fairly shocked! (7)
BLONDES
12. What Archimedes had man at home put in order (3,6)
AHA MOMENT
(MAN AT HOME)* (*put in order)
13. Husband with money ultimately is useful (5)
HANDY
H (husband) + AND (with) + [mone]Y (ultimately)
15. Wearing ace award is first for Lance Stroll (5)
AMBLE
wearing (A (ace) + MBE (award)) is L[ance] (first for)
16. Stalemate is uninspiring and bit of a shock (8)
DEADLOCK
DEAD (uninspiring) and LOCK (a bit of a shock (of hair))
19. What might cloud one’s view of large waterfall (8)
CATARACT
20. Dish dog knocked over by unclosed container (5)
BALTI
(LAB )< (dog, <knocked over) + TI[n] (container, unclosed)
21. Famous pilot’s worse after losing one daughter (5)
BADER
BAD[d]ER (worse, after losing one D (daughter))
Sir Douglas Bader
23. Around Open University, a fresh salmon’s odd (9)
ANOMALOUS
around OU (open university), (A + (SALMON)* (*fresh))
25. One worker inebriated primarily on church wine (7)
CHIANTI
(I (one) + ANT (worker) + I[nebriated] (primarily)) on CH (church)
27. A function without one drop of Niersteiner’s silly (7)
ASININE
A + SINE (function) without (I (one) + N[iersteiner) (drop of))
28. Small study about Welsh and English state (6)
SWEDEN
(S (small) + DEN (study)) about (W (Welsh) and E (English))
29. How some crossword setters might clue G-12! (8)
MIDNIGHT
Cryptic definition
[ni]G[ht] (mid) … aha!
DOWN
1. A method overlooked by actors in Hanks film (8)
CASTAWAY
(A + WAY (method)) overlooked by CAST (actors)
2. Cap that one might see on Mason? (11)
MORTARBOARD
3. Group of stars named road A Different Way (9)
ANDROMEDA
(NAMED ROAD)* (*a different way)
4. Soldiers with energy to get up – that’s strange! (5)
EERIE
(RE (soldiers) with E (energy))< (<to get up) + IE (that’s)
6. Blow horn on front of Harley-Davidson chopper (5)
TOOTH
TOOT (blow horn) on H[arley-davidson] (front of)
7. Boy seen climbing in valley for the most part (3)
LAD
DAL[e]< (<climbing, valley for the most part)
8. Note a filthy place is not very nice at all (5)
NASTY
N (note) + A + STY (filthy place)
9. A small pamphlet about British school of art? (8)
ABSTRACT
(A + S (small) + TRACT (pamphlet)) about B (British)
14. Friendly lavatory supremo is quite attractive (4-7)
NICE-LOOKING
NICE (friendly) + LOO (lavatory) + KING (supremo)
16. Little drink with a jerk could be exciting (8)
DRAMATIC
DRAM (little drink) with A + TIC (jerk)
17. Book-keeper annoyed by a riotous entry? (9)
LIBRARIAN
Cryptic definition
18. Wasted teacher and nurse tucking into pint (8)
MISSPENT
MISS (teacher) and (EN (nurse) tucking into PT (pint))
21. County game? (5)
BUCKS
22. Managed, say, to climb a series of mountains (5)
RANGE
RAN (managed) + (EG)< (say, <to climb)
24. Old bloke heading to Ibrox to see foreigner (5)
OMANI
O (old) + MAN (bloke) + I[brox] (heading to)
26. Fish the setter of this crossword had caught (3)
IDE
“I’d” (the setter of this crossword had, “caught”)
I had a whatchamacallit when the penny dropped on 12a. I didn’t class 29a as a CD – more of a definition (12) together with some cryptic wordplay.
I liked this — I think my favourite was BLONDES. Until a puzzle about a week ago, I’d not heard of BALTI — I don’t think we have it in the Antipodes. I couldn’t parse ASININE or EERIE (those British soldiers got me again), and even after coming here, I don’t understand how STOLEN and LIBRARIAN are cryptic.
Hovis@1
I parsed 29a as you did.
Geoff, I agree with you about 17D. I’m not sure what “annoyed by a riotous entry” contributes to the clue.
Similarly I don’t know why 29A wasn’t simple clued as “G-12”. Either way, it’s a very clever clue.
Re 5A: Banksy’s “art” is often stolen. Stolen goods are sold to a “fence”.
So “Balti” again raises its head. I don’t mean to embarrass you again – and I don’t know what state you live in – but Balti Indian and Balti Himalayan restaurants are very common in the states that I have lived in: currently Victoria.
I also have to agree that my “favourites are blondes”! That sexist comment will get me banned from this forum.
Peter@4
Is ‘riotous entry’ not referring to ‘an annoying noisy entry into a library?’ rather than a ‘disturbing entry in a book’?
Not quite cryptic unless there is more to it.
Not by me, Peter – I liked BLONDES too; it was neatly clued, as were most of these clues. The same can be said of 5, with a great surface to boot though I imagine most of Banksy’s works are on walls.
12A and 29A were also among my top picks.
The smooth progress through this grid by no means diluted the pleasure of solving it.
Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.
That’s how I read it, KVa @ 5
I hadn’t heard of stolen items being sold to a fence. New to me. And Peter, as I pointed out last time, I’ve never seen balti on an Indian restaurant menu, not even in India. We must live in parallel universes. At least I’ve added it to my lexicon so I’m well prepared for the next time it comes along!
Clearly it looks like the FT aren’t going to go back to Saturday being a prize crossword.
Wonder why we still have to wait so long for the answers then?
Mark @ 9 That’s my question too! I saw 29a as a double def. “12” being the second. Thanks both.
Thanks for the blog, I enjoyed the rich variety of clues once again from this setter.
Thanks Slormgorm. This was easy going for the most part but I needed a word finder for MORTARBOARD and the very clever MIDNIGHT. My top picks were BLONDES and DRAMATIC. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
Many thanks to TC for a great blog and to all who solved and commented.
The G-12 clue needs the ‘some setters’ preface as some setters would disagree that ‘midnight’ can fairly clue the letter G and also as an indication of a reverse clue. With the librarian clue I was trying to conjure a surface of a book-keeper being annoyed by a wild and unconventional entry in an accounts ledger so as to mislead from it being a riotous (as in boisterous and loud and drunken) entry into a library which annoys the librarian (keeper of zee books). For Bansky, he is a graffiti artist so his canvas is walls, fences, pavements etcs. Clue plays on the double meaning of ‘fence’.
Well, that’s enough blah from me. Hope to see you all next time around, but until then it be cheers and chin chin from me. 🙂